2023 年 12 月大学英语四级考试真题（第 1 套）

Exercising for just 10 minutes a week is linked to a longer life, according to a new study published in

The British Journal of Sports Medicine.

Several recent studies have found that even low-intensity exercise, done for a short amount of time, can

have a meaningful __26__ on health. Still, the idea that exercising for

just 10 minutes a week may be enough

to increase your lifespan is novel. It's also somewhat __27__ . since the

federal physical activity guidelines

recommend getting at least 75 minutes of vigorous exercise or 150 minutes of __28__ exercise each week.

The study was based on data from more than 88,000 U.S. adults who __29__

in the National Health

Interview Survey between 1997 and 2008.

Contrary to some research that has found an __30__ limit to the amount of

exercise that is healthy, the

researchers found that there was __31__ no limit to the longevity (长寿)

benefits of exercise. Even the small

group of people who got 10 times the amount of exercise recommended by the federal government had a

46% lower __32__ of death than the least active group.

Still, observational studies like this one cannot prove cause and effect; they can only find __33__ . The

researchers also were not able to __34__ for certain lifestyle factors

that could affect lifespan, including

dietary habits and changes in physical activity over time. Despite these __35__ . The study's results are yet

another indication of the power of physical activity, even in small amounts.

One of my bad habits is saying "busy" when people ask me how I'm doing. Sometimes it's because I

actually am busy, but other times it's because that's what I think I'm supposed to say. That's what important

people say. That's what people who get promoted say. But working long hours doesn't drive better results.

Never taking a vacation won't lead to a promotion. So why are we so proud to talk about how busy we are

all the time?

In 2016, researchers from Columbia, Harvard, and Georgetown conducted a study to figure it out. They

found busy people are perceived to be of high status, and interestingly, these status attributions are heavily

influenced by our own beliefs about social mobility. In other words, the more we believe that one has the

opportunity for success based on hard work, the more we tend to think that people who skip leisure and work all

the time are of higher standing.

That's why we feel like we have to appear busy, and there's a real perception that if someone is knee-deep

in meetings, emails, and stress, then they're probably a big deal. This culture of busyness is making it hard

for

employees to find work-life balance. According to a recent study, one in five highly engaged employees is at

risk

of burnout (精疲力竭).

Personally, I'm going to stop saying "busy" when people ask me how I am. It sounds self-righteous (自以为是的)

and sets the wrong tone. Phrases like "I have limited access to email" and "I'll respond as soon as I get

back" sound like you're being held against your will from working as opposed to making the most of your time

off.

That's why we recently launched the Out of Office Email Generator, a free tool you can use before your

next long weekend or trip. You can share loud and proud that you won't be checking email until you're back.

Managers need to think twice about emailing their teams on the weekend and talking about how busy they are.

Leaders should take time off themselves and encourage employees to do the same.

Female employees consistently pay lower airfares than men do for the same flights because they tend to

book earlier.

We compared the airfare paid by employees in the same position within a company for the same class

of travel and used a common statistical technique to account for other factors that might affect differences

in airfares. We found that women paid on average $18 less per ticket than their male colleagues. Further

investigation allowed us to conclude that this gap is largely explained by the fact that women tended to book

earlier than men, 1.8 days on average.

We wanted to determine what was causing these gender differences in booking business trips so we tested a

variety of possible explanations, such as women choosing to plan ahead or male frequent travelers being inclined

to book late. None of these explained away the gender gap, so we applied data collected from surveys that

express consumer preferences that play a central role in economic decisions, such as patience and risk

avoidance.

We found that only the concept of "negative reciprocity"—in which an employee who feels unfairly

treated engages in negative behaviors, such as spending their company's money less carefully- explains these

differences. The surveys showed men tend to exhibit more of these negative behaviors than women. This isn't to

say that all men engage in these behaviors or that booking relatively late is a sign of abnormal behavior. It

only

means that the gender gap disappears when we plug in the negative reciprocity variable.

Prior research on negative reciprocity among workers found that it can result in lower employee motivation,

business performance and workplace morale (士气) and culture.

Our results show another way these negative behaviors can manifest themselves, like in airline bookings,

and add to evidence that women are less likely to engage in them.

Companies spend significant sums of money on business travel. While that $18 difference per ticket may

seem small, it adds up. Our analysis suggests early booking by women can translate into savings of $1 million a

year for a large multinational company with 20,000 regular travelers.